Huntsville gazette., 1887-08-13
DiREFuL DROUGHT.

A REGION Scyenty-Fivc Thousand Square
/ Miles in Extent in Illinois and Wisconsin
Literally Scorchfng to Death-vegetation
Destroyed and Animal Life Famishine
for Water.
CHICAGO. August 9.-There is an area of
perhaps $4,000 square miles in the North
west where the dust lies heavily upon the
earth. The district is bounded by Madl-
son on the north, Bloomington on the
south, Lake Michigan on the east and the
Mississippi river on the west. 1t is within
the limits of these boundaries that vegeta-
tion has lost its normal color and the earth
it's moisture. Day after day the sun sends
its burning rays upon the parched farms
and fields. Leaves are falling from the
trees, the grass in the meadows has grown
yellow and white, ,and the streams in which
the cattle used to slake their thirst are as
dry as powder horns. 1t has been nearly
ten weeks since soaking rain fell in
this district. The big bull thistle-the pest
of nearly every farm-has at last sue
cumbed to the fate of all other vegetation.
The big weed first wilted, then turned
black, and finally fell upon the earth.
With not enough moisture in the ground
to feed thistle the condition of corn and
the tender grass in the meadow may be
imagined. In southern Wisconsin there
are thousands of acres where corn will not
yield peck to the acre. The crop has
been scorched and almost totally
destroyed. The leaves of the cereal are
yellow and brittle and droop almost to the
ground.
The loss of the corn crop, serious as it is,
will not impoverish the farmers. They
velived in the country since the land
was first titled, and have, for the most
part, laid by enough money to carry them
through winter. But there are other
dangers to be confronted. Wells have run
dry, and in some towns water famines are
imminent. The drinking water at hand is
often polluted and filed with poisonous
germs. Typhoid fever is becoming more
prevalent, and dysentery and other stom-
ach troubles are so common in many
places as to be almost epidemic. Unless
rain falls before many days the suffering
will be greatly augmented. The intense
heat has been terrific strain upon
man, but it's effect upon cattle
has been simply appalling. Without
pasturage to browse upon or pools in
which to stand during the hot hours of the
day, the poor beasts have become so ema-
ciated as to be wholly unmarketable. The
farmers in the dairy districts have in some
instances, been compelled to feed and
water their cows from their own larder.
In other places, forest trees have been fell
ed and dragged to the pastures and the
cattle turned loose to browse upon the
leaves. Hundreds of cows are being killed
and shipped to market for a mere pittance.
At Windslow, ILL.,, one farmer bought ten
head of cattle last d anuary at thirty dol
lars per head. When he offered to sell the
entire herd last week for 500 he could not
find purchaser. Farmers in this district
have already turned their cattle loose to
feed upon the crops.
In some places fences have been run
through cornfelds and the starving cattle
permitted to feed upon the leaves and
stalks. When these have been eaten the
fences are extended until the entire fields
have been eaten clean. Added to all the
miseries attending the great drought is the
constant fear of fires The tall grass of
the praries is dead. the fields are ready to
burst into flame and leaves lie in heaps in
the forests. A spark starts fire and the
blistering, Sahara-like wind fans the fame
into confagration. Already the land en-
compassed by the boundaries has been
blackened by wild fires. In some towns
the people are often called out three
or four times day to fight
the flames. Destructive fires
have been raging for many days in Keno
sha, Racine and Walworth counties, in
Wisconsin. Thousands of acres have
been swept by the flames, and the loss to
farmers in hay, grain, fencing and build
ings is very great. Above Madison the
bogs are burning fiercely, and the pun
gent smoke hangs over the country for
miles around. The Northern Illinois fires
are so numerous that the farmers have
plowed the ground about their buildings
in order to check the spread of the flames.
Should the drought remain unbroken
much longer incalculable ruin will be
wrought by these fires, which spring up in
unexpected places and in the most myste-
rious manner.
In some parts of the district the drought
is so terrible that butternuts and walnuts
have fallen from the trees. Potatoes, when
taken from their beds Of ashes, look like
crab apples. They are wrinkled and
spongy and unfit for food. There is also
great scarcity of milk, owing to the ina
bility of cows to find nutritious food.